Author: Garnik Zakarian

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

Last week, President Donald Trump issued his third April 24 statement “on Armenian Remembrance Day.” For three consecutive years, he did not muster the courage to use the correct term—genocide—to describe the annihilation of 1.5 million innocent Armenian men, women, and children by the Ottoman Turkish government!

Trump basically repeated the same words that he used in the past two years, with very minor changes. Again he used the Armenian term “Meds Yeghern” (Great Crime) to avoid calling the mass killings genocide! Meds Yeghern is simply a description that Armenians used before the word genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin in the 1940’s, whereas genocide is a term of international law and has legal consequences. Besides, if Trump insists on using an Armenian word, he should have said “Tseghasbanoutyoun” (genocide)!

Since his election as president, many Armenians had been hoping that Trump would rely on his unpredictable impulses to describe the Armenian mass killings as genocide, ignoring the counsel of his advisors and the position of his predecessors. Unfortunately, Trump knows very little about Armenian-Americans and can care less about their interests. The only time Trump will pay attention to the genocide issue is when Armenian-Americans gain more political clout.

It should not take much courage for Trump to use the term Armenian Genocide, because Ronald Reagan previously used it in his Presidential Proclamation on April 22, 1981. If he cannot call it genocide, Armenian-Americans do not need Trump to say anything on April 24. The Armenian Genocide has already been recognized by the United States several times. In addition to Reagan’s statement, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted two resolutions in 1975 and 1984 acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, and the U.S. government sent an official document to the International Court of Justice (World Court) in 1951 recognizing the Armenian mass killings as a case of genocide.

Nevertheless, Trump’s inadequate statement has a couple of secondary benefits to the Armenian Cause:

1. It irritates the hell out of Turkish leaders who seem to be ashamed and outraged that the President of the United States is reminding the world of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century,” and asserting that “beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.” Both Turkish President Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reacted with indignation and denial to Trump’s April 24 statement.

2. The statements of Pres. Trump and his predecessors cause each year a major political reaction around the world, generating mass publicity in the international media which is further fueled by the Turkish leaders’ denials.

On April 24, 2019, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan issued an important statement on the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Surprisingly, his statement did not mention Turkey or the Ottoman Empire as the perpetrator of the Armenian Genocide! This must have been an unfortunate oversight on the part of the Prime Minister and his aides. I do not think it was done intentionally, particularly since the statement does include a strong reference to Armenians losing their homeland in addition to the human losses. In the past, Armenia’s leaders have refrained from raising the issue of Armenian territorial demands from Turkey.

Meanwhile, Erdogan issued a particularly disgraceful statement on April 24, speaking at a Symposium in Ankara: “The relocation of the Armenian gangs and their supporters, who massacred the Muslim people, including women and children, in eastern Anatolia, was the most reasonable action that could be taken in such a period.”

Erdogan is shamefully accusing the Armenian victims of committing a mass crime against the victimizing Turks. This is an outrageous lie which is the equivalent of accusing Jews of killing Germans during the Holocaust! Erdogan must be suffering from a serious mental illness!

In a surprising development, Prime Minister Pashinyan responded forcefully to Erdogan’s pathetic lies. Pashinyan described Erdogan’s statement as “hateful” and called on the international community to respond: “On the day when Armenians around the world mourned the innocent victims of the Ottoman Genocide, Turkey, this country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated a statement denying the greatest crime of the 20th century, calling it only, ‘the deportation of Armenians.’ To call the extermination of the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the massive forced deportation of Armenians (death caravans) ‘Armenian bandits and their accomplices,’ and the massacre of 1.5 million indigenous people, ‘the most logical behavior’ is not only a new level of denial of the Armenian Genocide, but also an excuse for the destruction of an entire nation. Such a statement on April 24, on the day of the anniversary of the Genocide, is a deep insult to the Armenian people and all of humanity, and an _expression_ of extreme hatred personally by Erdogan. The world should not be silent.”

We are heartened that Prime Minister Pashinyan raised the issue of the Armenian territorial demand from Turkey, a demand that the Armenian government should pursue officially at the International Court of Justice!

Erdogan’s Allies Sing, Dance, Curse at Sheridan Circle, Site of his 2017 Attack on Peaceful American Protesters

WASHINGTON—Armenian Americans joined with members of the Greater Washington, DC Greek, Assyrian, Yezidi, Christian, and Kurdish communities in a demonstration demanding justice for the Armenian Genocide, against the backdrop of a disruptive April 24 “celebration” organized by allies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The event, held in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence on Washington, DC’s iconic Sheridan Circle, was organized by the AYF Washington, DC Ani Chapter, in coordination with the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee of Greater Washington, DC. The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), In Defense of Christians (IDC) and Kurdistani American Committee encouraged broad member participation at the event. This year, once again, over 50 students from the Holy Martyrs Ferrahian Armenian School 8th grade class from Southern California joined the DC Armenian community in this rally against Genocide denial.

The Turkish American Steering Committee’s (TASC) last-minute request to secure a portion of Sheridan Circle for a “first amendment” counter-protest was exposed as a blatant effort to intimidate and dampen Armenian American participation when only a handful of pro-Erdogan supporters occupied the space they had reserved for 250. It also resulted in the National Park Service rejection of a separate permit request by the Hellenic American Leadership Council, citing space considerations.

Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) called on the National Park Service to revoke the TASC protest permit, tweeting, “it is shocking that @NatlParkService would grant TASC a permit to stage a protest right next to the Armenian Genocide Commemoration in DC given the genocide-denying, pro-Erdogan groups’ past provocations of violence in the US. I call on them to immediately revoke this permit.”

Most TASC supporters gathered, as they have in past years, in front of the Turkish Ambassador’s residence, where they alternated between dancing, singing, and cursing at descendants of genocide survivors.

“On this day, I am proud to say that we confront this wall of hatred, this wall of genocide denial, with our piercing power of love,” said AYF Ani Chapter member Nareg Kuyumjian, who offered his poignant remarks with TASC members dancing gleefully in the background. “The Armenian-American community is rising and the Armenian Cause is more powerful than ever.”

Protesters also expressed their concerns to President Trump in light of his Armenian Remembrance Day Statement, issued just hours before the protest, in which he once again failed to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide. “Today we protest yet another year of silence on behalf of our government to recognize the Armenian Genocide, but let us not forget all that we have accomplished,” said Kuyumjian. “Let’s not forget that every state except Mississippi recognizes the Armenian Genocide. Let’s not forget that Armenian Genocide education is mandated in 15 states. Let us not forget that two Armenian Genocide bills that have been introduced in Congress that already have over 100 co-sponsors. And let us not forget that America’s improving relationship with Armenia and Artsakh is working to stop the murder of Armenians on the Azerbaijan border – murders that are a direct result of the lack of accountability.”

“The courage, the conviction of the AYF and all the others – young kids, the students, the Homenetmen scouts and all of you – to reclaim the circle, to set foot on that soil, that’s a sacred act – as an Armenian and as an American,” noted Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian, during remarks later in the day. “As Armenians, we are saying ‘we won’t back down.’ As Americans, we are saying ‘we have our rights, and they won’t be taken from us – not by another nation, not by a foreign dictator.”

Following the rally, Armenian Americans marched to the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, led by the Greater Washington DC Homenetmen Scouts and Drum Corps, American and Armenian flags held high. The participants joined in the Embassy of Armenia’s annual Armenian Genocide memorial event at the “Khatchkar” monument dedicated to the eternal memory of that crime.

The prayer service, wreath laying ceremony and program, organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, featured remarks by Armenian Ambassador to the U.S., His Excellency Varuzhan Nersesyan, ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, Armenian Assembly Government Affairs Director Mariam Khaloyan, and Jake Bournazian of the Washington, DC Knights of Vartan ‘Ani’ Lodge.

Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Diocesan Legate of the Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church Eastern US was joined by Soorp Khatch Armenian Apostolic Church pastor, Fr. Sarkis Aktavoukian and St. Mary’s Armenian Church pastor Hovsep Karapetyan in offering a community prayer for the sainted victims of the Armenian Genocide. Sarine and Arya Balian offered moving renditions of the Armenian and American anthems. The program concluded with song and poetry recitations by the Hamasdegh Armenian School and Shnorhali Armenian School students, including a presentation of Moushegh Ishkhan’s “Hayots Askhar” by Victoria Penenian, a dance simply titled, “Hayastan,” and a number of patriotic songs.

At the beginning of the program, Washington, DC Homenetmen Scouts stood at attention, in tribute to the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide and the survivors who helped rebuild the Armenian nation, and then participated in a special flag-raising ceremony.